Mike Greenaway
The best Springbok on show at the Shark Tank at the weekend, Ox Nche, has put into words the feelings of most Bok supporters after Ireland prevailed 25-24 to square the series 1-1.
Nche was the Player of the Match and if his teammates had collectively scaled his level of performance, it would not be a blue Monday for South Africans. Nche said the Boks kicked too much.
“I think we should have backed ourselves more with the ball instead of kicking a lot of possession away. I think that’s where we lost it,” the roly-poly prop said.
“It is disappointing. The boys gave it their all, but a few small things cost us the game. We still have a long way to go and plenty to work on.
“We were defending for most of the game while they kept the ball more and tried to go through the phases. They lost momentum when they kicked. So, we have a lot to learn from that.”
Nche’s coach, Rassie Erasmus, was resigned in defeat and respectful to the Irish.
“We can sit here with a sad face and think of excuses, but the best team won on the day,” the Bok coach said.
“We would love to have beaten them 2-0 but now it is a drawn series, which is consistent with the games between these two teams over the last few years. There always seems to be two or three points in it and it is always tight when we play them there (in Ireland) too,” said Erasmus.
“Ireland were definitely in the mood of a team that was playing its last game of the season and had a five-week break to look forward to after this. They came out firing and started well, and it was a well-executed drop goal that won it for them. We fought well but it just wasn’t enough.
“We wanted to win the series so we are disappointed that we didn’t. But they would also have been aiming for a 2-0 win, so neither side will be happy.”
Captain Siya Kolisi felt his team were the architects of their own destruction for allowing Ireland to shoot out of the starting blocks and leave the Boks for dead.
“The way we started wasn’t good, and we’ve only got ourselves to blame,” he said.
“We weren’t all on the same page or firing at the same time, but you must also give credit to the guys who came on to fight our way back into the game.
“We would have loved to have won the series – the people who were here today were amazing in their support.
“It would have been great to reward such passionate fans with a win and we’re hurting, but we’re not dead and we will bounce back.
“We allowed them to set the tone for the game in the first half. There’s so much we can improve on. Each individual will look at himself. We can rectify this.”
The match could be likened to a street fight between two equally tooled gangs and blood flowed liberally. Bok locks Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert had gashes in their heads within 10 minutes.
“It was a case of two very good sides going at it,” Ireland coach Andy Farrell said. “The first half was way up there physically, with some serious collisions, and we needed to be tough to beat them. In the first half, we were much better than we were in the Pretoria game, and then there was a complete role reversal after that from the Pretoria game.
“South Africa showed their class in the third quarter but we knew if we hung in and showed character we could win. There was a lot of pressure on us to perform. South Africa are a wonderful team, magnificent.
“Our tussles with South Africa have been immense and we had to show guts, bravery and composure. Now I am looking forward to getting together with the Boks and enjoying a few drinks with them.”